Praise the Lord, Carmin and I finally met Matthew and his grandparents. We have been on the phone with Matthew’s grandmother (Pastor Trudy) for weeks trying to set up a time and place to be able to meet Matthew. We have been praying for Matthew with his grandmother (Pastor Trudy) and hoping we can get together and meet Matthew.
Matthew is a 17 yr old Skater who knows the Lord but has been hurt like many of us, by people in the church and from a ministry that gave him high hopes and then didn’t even contact him before or after they left to go back to their home headquarters, and Matthew never heard from them again.
Myself, Carmin, Matthew, Pastor Trudy and her husband George all met at Carmin’s cousin’s Pizzeria to eat some dinner and talk. We had some good conversation and ate some great food.
Carmin and I shared how we came to the Lord and some things we had been through in our personal walks with the Lord. We shared about what happened with a “ministry” that hurt us and controlled us, I shared about my homelessness, how another churched treated me because I was homeless, how Pastors knew I was homeless and they would look at watch and say “hey, I gotta go, I will keep you in prayer” and a few other things.
The point we were making to Matthew and the reason we shared what we shared with Matthew, was that there will always be a man, woman, church, ministry that will hurt you or let you down in some way or another ….. ”man” will always let you down. And that you cannot let that hinder or stop your walk and service to the Lord. We also reminded Matthew that Jesus LOVES him and Jesus will NEVER let him down or hurt him.
I then asked Matthew to take a walk outside to our car and I opened my trunk and took out my skateboard and let him ride it. He had work shoes on and did some tricks. He was laughing because he was having trouble because of his dress shoes. We talked about my board and then we went back inside, it was chilly and we wanted to head back into the Pizzeria. So we went back in, I had a cup of coffee and then we ended the night. We walked them to their car, gave them hugs and I gave Matthew my ministry card and our church card and invited him to our church. I also told Matthew that he is always welcome to stop at our house and if he was gonna hit the skate park down the road from us, to call me so we can hang.
Matthew seemed like he was listening and we hope & pray that what we said made sense to him and touched his heart to fully return to our (and his) Lord. We know it was all the words that the Lord gave us to share. And to think about it now, the Lord allowed us to go through trials for just a time as this, to comfort those who are hurting, with the comfort the Lord has given us - 2 Corinthians 1:4
Please pray that Matthew will re-dedicate his life to the Lord. Also continue to keep Matthew and us in prayer, that this is the beginning of a close relationship with Matthew and his grandparents, that Matthew will be calling me and that we will get together a lot and skate together, and that I will be able to mentor (Disciple) him with the things of the Lord.
